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About Me

I’ve been cooking as long as I can remember, professionally since I was 17. I love everything about food, and spent my life pursuing it. I was an apprentice pastry chef in Innsbruck Austria before I even went to cooking school. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America I became a full fledged Pastry Chef for a high end country club, and love it as I did there was so much more to be done, which eventually led me to catering. My catering company is just what I want it to be; I get to do something different everyday either in the kitchen or helping a bride design her ideal wedding or just researching new recipes out of my own imagination.
If you would like more details about my career, please the About page on my website www.SonomaCaterers.com.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

From my December column in the Petaluma Post. A little dated... until the holidays are back!

The holidays are coming, the holidays are coming! Actually by the time you read this they will
be here and on top of us. The month of
December seems to roll by so fast with family, friends and business
events. Then you have the shopping,
gifts, gifts ,gifts. All of a sudden
someone gives you a gift you did not expect, or you are invited to someone’s
home and need that hostess gift. What if
you had a couple of recipes that you could make in advance, package, and have
ready? They are also great for those
teacher and coworkers gifts.

We have all baked lots of cookies and bars, but you can’t
have them ready at hand because of the dual threats of needing them fresh, and
hubby eating them. Over the past few
years I have been making a sour cream coffee cake that freezes great. Just wrap well and pull it out when you need
a gift. It is also great to put aside for
Christmas morning.

Coffee Cake

Crumble topping

6 Tbl butter

2/3 cup flout

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse till
crumbly, then set aside. This recipe is also a great topping for pies instead
of the top crust.

Cake

1¾ cup flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup vegetable oil

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients, and mix till
smooth. Finally, add to dry ingredients,
mixing until well incorporated.

Place 2/3 of the batter into an 8” cake or bundt pan, then sprinkle
with cinnamon sugar and about half of the crumble topping. Add the remaining
batter and top with rest of the crumble and cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 325 degree for approximately 45
minutes, till a tooth pick comes out clean.

This recipe translates great to anything. You can use any pan you like, it doubles and
triples well. At the catering company we
make it ten times this recipe for our use.
There are great paper pans available that are oil lined and ready to
give away, available at Sur La Table and other gourmet kitchen stores.

Another unexpected favorite of my friends is homemade
granola. Make ahead and put in mason
jars with a bow ready to go. If you
don’t give it all away it is a great way to start out the New Year. It is a great recipe to make with your kids

Granola

8 cups rolled oats

2 cups nuts- your choice- sliced almonds, pecans. Walnuts

2 cups seeds- your choice -pumpkin, sunflowers, other

¼ cup poppy seeds

1 T cinnamon

½ cup oil

1 cup honey

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups dried fruits

Combine the oats, nuts, seeds, and cinnamon, and mix well. Then combine the oil, honey and extracts,
warming slightly till the honey is thin; drizzle over dry mixture and stir till
well combined. Place on cookie sheets,
toast at 350 degree, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes till golden. Approximately four times, depending on
depth. Allow to cool completely, then add
the dry fruit. Pack in mason jars for
gifts.

Mason Jars are really in and with the cold nights what about
a ready to go soup in a jar?

Split Pea &
Barley Soup

½ cup dried barley

½ cup split peas

2 Tbl minced onions

1 tsp dried thyme

1 Tbl granulated Garlic

2 Tbl chicken bouillon granules

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup macaroni - your favorite

Layer each of the ingredients in a 1 quart mason jar,
finishing with the macaroni as the last layer.
Seal with the lid. Add a nice
ribbon and a gift card that says “Add
contents to 2 qt water, simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Optional add ins celery, carrots and canned
tomatoes.Enjoy”

Don’t ever think twice about a jar of jam or jelly. I remember one year my niece and nephew got
assorted jars and they thought it was the best gift. In this age of long hours and being pulled
many ways, a homemade gift shows that you care.